Haryana: Ajay Chautala given furlough for 2 weeks

Haryana Chief Minister-designate Manohar Lal Khattar and Dushyant Chautala meet Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya to stake claim for the next government in the state

New Delhi: A day after Dushyant Chautala clinched an alliance with Manohar Lal Khattar to form the new government in Haryana, his father Ajay Chautala, who has been lodged in Tihar Jail in a corruption case, was given furlough for two weeks. Sandeep Goel, the Director General of Tihar Prisons, said, "We have given two weeks furlough to the convict Ajay Chautala. He had applied for the furlough a few days ago to attend a ritual to be held in remembrance of his mother's death."

Goel added that this was the second time that Ajay had applied for a furlough. Earlier this year, he had gone for a three-week furlough. A convict is entitled to seven-week furloughs in a year. The Director General of Tihar Prisons is the final authority to grant it to the convicts. However, it was reported that Ajay wants to attend his son Dushyant's swearing-in ceremony as Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana. The Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) clinched an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a new government in Haryana.

Ajay Chautala. Pics/PTI

The JJP, which has won 10 seats in the 90-member Assembly, has reached a deal with the BJP to form the government in the state wherein the Chief Minister will be from the BJP, while the post of Deputy Chief Minister will go to JJP. The coalition was announced by BJP president Amit Shah at a press conference held with JJP leader Dushyant Chautala on Friday. In February 2013, former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, his MLA son Ajay and three government officials were sentenced to 10 years in prison by a special CBI court on charges of illegally recruiting over 3,000 teachers in the state by using forged documents.

'Dushyant is like a child'

Dushyant Chautala is like a child and his support to the BJP government is unconditional, newly-elected Independent legislator Ranjit Singh Chautala said on Saturday. Ranjit Singh is the brother of the jailed Om Prakash Chautala, Dushyant's grandfather and has estranged relations with the Chautala family. "Dushyant is like a child. Parents never feel bad if their children are with them," he told the media on Saturday morning.

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